New report from the charity Alcohol CHange (formed from the merger of Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK) in which we look at alcohol harm in the UK, and make the case for change being not only needed, but possible | Alcohol Change, UK

Pioneering health and social care charity Humankind and innovative London-based alcohol and drug charity Blenheim CDP have announced they are intending to merge in April 2019 to form a national organisation which takes a different approach to addressing health and social inequalities | humankind and Blenheim, UK

Analysis of drinking habits across England and Scotland shows that the majority of people are drinking either at or below the current guidelines, with drinking at harmful levels becoming most prevalent in middle aged people and in the most deprived areas | Portman Group, UK

Hannah went down to Westminister to talk to Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth about being the child of an alcoholic, how society views drinking and why it's good to talk, no matter how hard it seems | acast, UK

The human love of alcohol – although not of its most destructive effects – has a long history, and we’ve always found ways round efforts to ban or control consumption. But after 9,000 years, there are signs that booze might finally be getting a little boring | Wellcome Institute, UK

"CannaPro will represent this fast-growing sector to the authorities, standing up to the Home Office, MHRA, FSA and Trading Standards. It will offer guidance and support to all businesses as well as inform and educate consumers about the benefits of CBD and the pitfalls." | Clear, UK

New research from King's College London has found that MDMA, the main ingredient in ecstasy, causes people to cooperate better—but only with trustworthy people. In the first study to look in detail at how MDMA impacts cooperative behaviour the researchers also identified changes to activity in brain regions linked to social processing | Medical Xpress, UK

A massive haul of heroin at Dublin Airport — involving a female courier accompanied by a child — is believed to be part of a sophisticated trafficking system to bring consignments from Pakistan into Britain | Irish Examiner, Ireland

This report explores how data on drug use are captured through surveys of targeted populations in recreational settings. The benefits and challenges of monitoring drug use in recreational settings are identified, as are emergent data sources and methodological innovations. The report draws on cutting-edge debates within social research, sociology and critical drug studies to encourage dialogue between researchers and with monitoring agencies | EMCDDA, Portugal

This document is an update of the International Cooperation Strategy adopted in 2007. It sets priorities in the area of the international cooperation aligned with the Centre’s Strategy 2025 | EMCDDA, Portugal

This report details the results of a two-day workshop on the EMCDDA’s trendspotter methodology held in Lisbon in November 2017. The workshop involved representatives from national drug observatories based in countries from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), along with experts from European countries and regional and international organisations active in the drugs field | EMCDDA, Portugal

[Press Release here] The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan remains at very high levels despite a decrease by 20 per cent compared to 2017. The potential production of opium decreased by 29 per cent in 2018 compared to last year, while farm-gate prices hit an all-time low, according to the 2018 Afghanistan Opium Survey released today | UNODC, Switzerland

The "gateway pattern" of adolescent substance use is changing, and marijuana is increasingly the first substance in the sequence of adolescent drug use, according researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health | EurekAlert, USA

In June 2018, the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms Scientific Working Group released the results of a significant new study in a comprehensive technical report, Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms (2007–2014). The report presents estimates of the economic costs and harms of substance use in Canada for the years 2007 to 2014 | CCSA, Canada

[Open access] Relatively little is known about factors that may lead to the development of a substance use disorder (SUD), across a range of drug classes. This study aimed to identify factors that predict the likelihood of transition from use to SUD and the speed with which this may occur at the population level, with a focus on the impact of pre-existing mental disorders | Science Direct, Australia

[Open access] Some university students consume pharmaceutical stimulants without a medical prescription to improve their academic performance. The prevalence of this practice has been well documented in the US, but less so in other countries. The potential harms of using prescription stimulants require a better understanding of the prevalence of this practice within Australian universities | BMC Public Health, Australia

In breaking news, alcohol is really not a safe drug. It is a major cause of non-communicable death and disease; for example, over time it can damage many of your vital organs in ways that no other drugs can, including heroin | NSP blog, UK

Today the new charity formed out of the merger of Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK has been launched. You might remember that when this merger was first announced I was pretty sceptical that it could work | Thinking to some purpose blog, UK

This week is Alcohol Awareness Week and the theme is “CHANGE”. Across the country, GPs, hospitals, community groups, shops, workplaces and more will be running events and campaigns raising awareness of alcohol and the thousands of lives damaged by it | Blenheim, UK

Today the Home Office released a review of its 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act (PSA) which introduced a blanket ban on the production, distribution, sale and supply of most psychoactive substances including former ‘legal highs’ | Transform blog, UK

The funding of new drug education programmes should be a national priority, but for these programmes to have their intended impact, it is important that they are grounded in education based on harm reduction, rather than education based on drug prevention | AOD MediaWatch, Australia

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